The organizers of the 14th Osaka Asian Film Festival announced that the opening film will be Randen: The comings and goings on Kyoto Tram by Suzuki Takuji. Read more information about this film here.

Under programming director TERUOKA Sozo, the OAFF will again select high-quality Asian films. The Competition section, which receives increased recognition every year, will again select films previously unreleased in Japan. The regular sections, Special Screenings and Indie Forum, and other special programs will also feature a wide variety of excellent Asian films.

RANDEN: The Commings and Goings on a Kyoto Tram by Suzuki Takuji
Japan | 2019 – 114 min.
Starring: Iura Arata, Onishi Ayaka, Abe Satoko, Kanai Hiroto.

A writer from Kamakura named HIRAOKA Eisei (IURA Arata) is researching supernatural stories but finds himself revisiting memories from a previous visit to his wife’s home town. OGURA Kako (ONISHI Ayaka), a shy local woman, is asked to help an actor from Tokyo practice speaking with Kyoto intonation and, after the lesson, he asks her to show him around Arashiyama. KITAKADO Nanten, a high school girl from Aomori, shows a one-track mind when she falls for a train nerd who sees nothing but trams. The love of three couples is carried along together by the famous trams and a little of Kyoto’s special magic and folklore. The course of true love rarely runs smooth but if fate places you on a Randen tram, then you will at least get a scenic ride amidst the history and wonderful sights of the city in this charming fairy-tale film that breathes the culture and atmosphere of the city.

Schedule:
March 3rd, 2019 | Friday | Hankyu Umeda Hall | Time: to be confirmed.

About the director:
SUZUKI Takuji, born in 1967, is an assistant professor at Department of Film Production, Kyoto University of Art and Design. He has directed feature-length films such as “A Wife of Kitaro”(ゲゲゲの女房) and “A Band Rabbit and a Boy”(楽隊のうさぎ). He has been expanding the horizon of fiction by making dramas of random people in the world with a bit of mystery. SUZUKI also plays active role of being an actor in films such as “Devotion of Suspect X” (容疑者Xの献身) and “SETO UTSUMI” (セトウツミ).

We would like to remind our readers that the 14th Osaka Asian Film Festival will take place from March 8th – 17th, 2019 at the ABC Hall, Cine Libre Umeda, Hankyu Umeda Hall and other venues (Osaka, Japan).

* Photo: Migrant Birds / OMURO / Kyoto University of Arts and Design.